When 'They' Are Listening: Sociolinguistic Variation in John F. Kennedy's Cold War Speeches during 1961
When John F. Kennedy took office in January 1961, the United States entered a new era of Cold War diplomacy. During the era ridden with propaganda and imminent nuclear apocalypse, the presidential address served as a powerful tool to promote international peace while simultaneously threatening the o...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | English English |
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Florida State University
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| Online Access: | http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/2019_Spring_Pope_fsu_0071N_15205 |
| Summary: | When John F. Kennedy took office in January 1961, the United States entered a new era of Cold War diplomacy. During the era ridden with propaganda and imminent nuclear apocalypse, the presidential address served as a powerful tool to promote international peace while simultaneously threatening the opposition. Rather than fixate on President Kennedy’s rhetorical initiatives as they appear in transcriptions, the following identifies President Kennedy’s sociophonetic initiatives through linguistic methodology. By utilizing the phonetic software tool, Praat, the succeeding analysis produces a speaking profile for three of Kennedy’s 1961 speeches. With consistent content and context across each speech, President Kennedy’s ability to adapt his speaking style - dependent on the present audience - is distinguished. Considering Kennedy’s speeches were often influenced by speech writers, the President’s orality and sociophonetic variation provides evidence to his individual attempts to appeal to specific audiences. To further critique Kennedy’s use of language when appealing to his constituents, specific “signals” directed to the opposition are additionally analyzed. Beneficial to historians, rhetoricians, and linguists this work returns to a basis in orality in an effort to promote linguistic methodologies in the rhetorical domain. === A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. === Spring Semester 2019. === April 15, 2019. === Cold War, John F. Kennedy, Praat, Presidential Rhetoric, Sociolinguistics, Style === Includes bibliographical references. === Davis W. Houck, Professor Directing Thesis; Arthur Raney, Committee Member; Gretchen Sunderman, Committee Member. |
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